Vegetation Management Services

A healthy community forest begins with careful planning. With a little research and a simple layout, you can produce a landscape that will cool your home in summer and tame the winter winds. Your well-planned yard will contain trees that grow well in the soil and moisture of your neighborhood. Your trees will be properly placed to avoid collisions with power lines and buildings, and the aesthetics will increase your property value.

A proper landscape plan takes each tree into consideration:

1. Height. Will the tree bump into anything when it is fully grown? [sizing guide]
2. Canopy spread. How wide will the tree grow?
3. Is the tree deciduous or coniferous? (Will it lose its leaves in the winter?)
4. Form or shape. A columnar tree will grow in less space. Round and V-Shaped species provide the most shade. [shape guide]
5. Growth rate. How long will it take for your tree to reach its full height? Slow growing species typically live longer than fast-growing species.
6. Soil, sun, and moisture requirements.
7. Fruit. Fruit trees are beautiful, but they are messy, too. Consider where their droppings will fall.
8. Hardiness Zone. The Plant Hardiness Zones divide the United States based on lowest average temperature. Suitable hardiness means a plant is expected to grow in the zone’s temperature extremes. Contact your community’s tree board, forestry department or a local county cooperative extension agent for a list of trees suitable for planting in specific hardiness zones. (Arborday.org tree wizard.)

• Before you plant vegetation, know what’s below ground by calling 811 or by visiting georgia811.com before you dig. Contacting 811 notifies local utilities, who will locate and mark underground utilities at your planting site.
• When planting trees, avoid the potential for future conflict with overhead power lines by checking the mature size of the tree you are considering.
• Never plant trees under or near overhead power lines.
• Never attempt to trim vegetation growing on or near overhead power lines. Call NGEMC to report any vegetation that is within the power line right-of-way.
• To be safe, do not dig around or near power equipment.
• To help NGEMC crews avoid delays during maintenance, repairs or power restoration, do not plant flowers and bushes within five feet of meters, pad-mounted transformers or utility poles. Pad-mounted transformers are green electrical boxes seen in or near the yards of many members with underground electrical service.

• Georgia 811: Know What’s Below. Call Before You Dig.
• Proper Tree Planting
• Tree Care Information
• Tree Resources for Teachers
• Arbor Day Foundation

Various types of trees respond differently to sickness and damage. For example, a pine tree may topple over due to root failure, while a hardwood tends to lose limbs starting with the top of the canopy.

To increase system safety and reliability, NGEMC’s Vegetation Management team identifies trees that are hazardous to power lines and works with property owners to remove them. If there is a tree you are concerned about, please contact us to ask our team to take a look at it.

How you can help

The Georgia Forestry Commission asks residents not to remove dead trees, firewood, mulch and clippings from the county where they originated.